Essentially Alshon Jeffrey was lined up two yards off the line of scrimmage. That means the Eagles didn’t have enough players on the line of scrimmage on a tick play. That’s one of the most important things to do on a trick play. Teams have to line up correctly so they don’t waste their shot. The Eagles did not line up correctly — according to Pereira — so the play shouldn’t have counted.

An illegal formation penalty would have been a huge shot to the Eagles. Instead of fourth-and-one, it would have been fourth-and-six. They would’ve definitely kicked a field goal. Maybe that would have carried their momentum, but it’s doubtful it would have been as galvanizing as Philly Special.

Patriots fans will obviously take this news perfectly and be completely rational about it. Philly fans won’t care about hearing that they essentially cheated to put an extra six points on the board — that’s actually very true.

The NFL has said it was a judgement call, but a player is either on the line or he is not on the line. Two yards is not on the line. Looks like the Eagles entire championship is tainted . . . just kidding, Jeffery wasn’t even in the play. The penalty should’ve been called, but it wasn’t the deciding factor in the game.

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